


The Cygnet in September Part I

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [44]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cute Kids, F/M, Food, school issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 13:03:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8103307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: Liesel Coulter's the girl in class who eats weird foods, according to some of her classmates. She doesn't care - because she and her family love cooking together.Written for HC Bingo - Comfort Food





	

Liesel loved her new home in Texas. Yes, it was far hotter than her first home and there was no ocean here in Austin, but she loved it here. Even if most of her neighbors weren't that nice, Mommy told her that was going to happen wherever you went in the world. Besides, not all of them were bad, and Emma was her best friend and Emma alone was worth more than all of the other kids on the street put together. 

The only problem was that Emma didn't go to school with her. Emma went to what was called a public school, while she was going to her parish's school. Since Emma went to a different church – she actually called her church a synagog – and Liesel had no idea what that meant, because when Emma said it was time for her to go to church, she would say she was going to the temple. Maybe it was like her parents – Daddy called going to church as going to Mass and mama said it was church. 

Grown-ups were weird. 

It was September now, and it was still hot, but somehow the heat had changed today. Instead of being all sort of dry and tolerable, today was awful. The air was thick and heavy, and it was hard to even think. She could remember looking at the thermometer outside the kitchen door this morning, the long red needle already pointing to 90. She had watched that needle get almost to 120 during the summer. Even though it was cool inside the classroom, with the high windows shut and only the barest traces of sun pouring in, she and her classmates were listless. 

When lunch time came, she set her lunchbox down at her place, unpacking her food slowly. When she set her thermos down, Cedric, who sat across from her, wrinkled his nose. “You're not eating soup, are you?”

“Cold soup.” She returned with a grin. “It's good, it's my grand-mama's borscht.” 

He paused. “Is that your mom's mom or your dad's mom?”

“My mom's mom.” She answered, pulling out a container of summer sausage and an apple. “She lives in Romania.” 

“Isn't that near New Hampshire?” Interjected Kelly, who sat next to her.

“No, that's Rhode Island.” Liesel replied. “Romania is in Europe. It's near Ukraine and Hungary.” 

“You know where _everything_ is.” Isaac, the other boy at their table remarked. “How do you know all this stuff?”

“How do you know all that stuff about baseball?” Kelly countered, leaning forward with a grin. “Knowing places is something Liesel _knows._ The way I know about _Friendship is Magic”_

Cedric snickered. “So does my big brother.” 

“Then your brother's smarter than you, you don't know the difference between Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.” Her classmate shot back as Liesel rolled her eyes and carefully poured some of her soup into the lid of her thermos. She could clearly remember her mom's warning when she packed the lunches this morning – the soup could stain her clothes, so she needed to be extra careful when eating it. Mama had even issued the warning to Daddy, and he came home with stained clothes all the time. They were never really big, but she'd seen the reddish brown spots on his work clothes – scrubs – all the time. 

She saw Isaac shoot a glance towards their teacher, Miss Bair, who was at her desk before speaking. “Anyone want to trade desserts?” He held up a slightly squashed oatmeal pie. 

“Ew.” Kelly shook her head. “No way.” 

Liesel looked in her bag and drew out a foil package. “Fruit snacks?” 

“Done!” They quickly exchanged treats, before their teacher caught them. Swapping and sharing food technically wasn't allowed in the classroom, but they all did it to some degree. There was the usual worry about allergies, but the main reason was that their teacher felt that they should all eat the food that they were given, and not try to trade their way into a lunch comprised solely of junk food.

There wasn't a kid in this classroom who could pull that off; you couldn't swap carrot sticks for chips with anyone. If she had chips in her lunch, she'd be hard pressed to even share them. Sweets were insanely rare in the Coulter house; they were for holidays and special occasions. 

“My mom never buys these things.” Isaac held up the package with delight, tearing the package open and popped one into his mouth immediately. “She says they're for babies.” 

Liesel took a sip of her soup before speaking. “The only time I see cookies is around Christmas.” 

Cedric sat back in his chair. “Must be why you like that stuff.” He indicated the thermos, leaning forward. “Weird, your soup is purple!”

“How you get purple soup?” Kelly asked.

“It's made from beets.” She took another drink, deciding that she wouldn't mention the fact that it also had cabbage and onions. Sure, the soup had been dumped into the blender to mix it all up and easy to eat, but she could remember this past weekend when Daddy had made the soup, following grand-mama's recipe. Mama wasn't a very good cook, but Daddy said she was an excellent helper. 

Maybe this weekend, Mama wouldn't get tired in the middle of their cooking time. She seemed to be tired so often lately; Liesel decided she would ask Daddy if Mama was sick when she got home.


End file.
